I listened to the front door close after the last person came home

Dear Delyara, Everyone was inside. That should have felt comforting. Sometimes it does. Tonight it felt like the second shift starting. I don’t say that bitterly. Just accurately. Family home in the evening is not rest for mothers in the way people sometimes imagine. It is another chapter of attention. Feeding, listening, softening, noticing, helping, timing, holding. Beautiful, irritating, human, exhausting work. I stood in the hall after the door shut and let myself feel both truths at once: I love that they are home. And home asks a lot from me.